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Equipment management system successfully implemented

"The introduction of Trail has clarified our own processes and operating models." Pia Jänkälä, IT Support, Lappia

Lappia Vocational College operates across five locations in Northern Finland, providing education to approximately 4,500 students, supported by a staff of 340. Its operations span 30% of Finland's geographical area.

In addition to offering basic and professional degrees, Lappia provides a wide range of training and services for young people, adults, and businesses.

The school's IT department manages thousands of critical pieces of IT equipment. To maintain a clear overview and simplify equipment loans, Lappia adopted Trail Asset Management.

What changed after the introduction of Trail?

Before the implementation of Trail, item data was very scattered. "There were several different tables, purchase orders, and systems in use. Gathering the overall view of all IT equipment from various sources was a huge challenge" states Pia Jänkälä from Lappia’s IT support.

With Trail, all IT equipment was consolidated into a single register. Now, asset information is easily accessible and can be kept up to date.

"The introduction of Trail Asset Management has streamlined our processes and clarified our operating models. Today, Trail also helps us manage equipment loans, create budgets for future purchases, and maintain inventories," Jänkälä continues.

An intuitive system and proper preparation streamlined the implementation

Lappia's IT team thoroughly prepared for the implementation of Trail, carefully considering the users, items, and categories to be added to the system.

"We limited the item categories in Trail to keep the content more manageable. Additionally, we decided that access rights would be granted only to IT personnel and those managing loans, ensuring that the information in the system remains well-controlled."

Jänkälä emphasized that easy data input was crucial for a smooth implementation. Inventory data can be imported into Trail in Excel format, avoiding time-consuming manual entry.

Trail's user-friendly design further supported the implementation. "As a product, Trail is clear and easy to adopt. We also found the mobile app to be relatively intuitive."

Achieved benefits:

• All IT equipment information is centralised in one system

• Tracking equipment reservations and loans is simple

• Easy way to get a comprehensive view of equipment and its lifecycle

Trail boosts equipment reporting at Oulu University of Applied Sciences

Oulu University of Applied Sciences (Oamk) creates vitality and well-being in northern Finland. It provides education to over 9,000 students and annually produces more than 1,420 new degrees from six different fields of study.

A wide range of modern equipment is used in teaching and research, with annual investments reaching hundreds of thousands of euros. Effective equipment management ensures that the equipment meets teaching needs and performs optimally throughout its lifespan. Oamk has relied on Trail for its equipment management since 2015.

Status before implementing Trail

Managing Oamk's equipment, spread across several campuses, had become challenging. The existing equipment management software, due to discontinued development, no longer met Oamk's needs. For instance, the old system did not provide the comprehensive reports that Oamk required. Positive feedback from the Sibelius Academy also made Oamk more aware of the benefits of Trail Equipment Management.

Status after implementing Trail

Oamk introduced Trail in 2015. The user-friendly interface and support provided by Trail ensured a quick onboarding process. Now, Oamk stores equipment data in a modern system, significantly improving reporting efficiency. Additionally, Oamk uses the data gathered by Trail to accurately insure all necessary equipment.

Inventory processes have also been streamlined, thanks to Trail’s asset labels and mobile app. Currently, each department spends only about 1-2 hours per year on inventories.

Thanks to Trail's booking feature, it is also easy for students to book equipment for educational use. Students have a better view of what equipment they have at their disposal and are able to book the equipment they need for their projects directly from the Trail interface.

Oamk also utilises Trail for more efficient investment planning. The system provides data on purchase prices, service life, and utilisation rates, ensuring that investment decisions are based on accurate information rather than assumptions.

“I have been very pleased with the use of Trail. From there, we get Excel reports for a variety of uses, inventories have been speeded up, and the booking system keeps asset reservations better tracked. Trail's staff has also been a great support and help!” states Heli Malmström, System Administrator, Oamk

Achieved benefits:

• Efficient reporting

• Production of more accurate inventory reports

• Ease of borrowing and reserving equipment

• Improved accuracy in equipment information for insurance

Improved sense of control over equipment

Malmö Live is a versatile concert and event facility in Sweden’s third-largest city, Malmö. It features a concert hall with a capacity of 1,700 spectators, a black box called Kuben for 650 people, a foyer stage for around 200, and various pop-up stages in its common areas.

The state-of-the-art concert hall, opened in 2015, features the latest technology and exceptional acoustics. Malmö Live is also the home of the Malmö Symphony Orchestra.

Technical Manager Martin Berglund and the technical team provide sound, lighting, and stage solutions for approximately 400 concerts and events each year.

In addition, the Malmö Symphony Orchestra performs about 60-70 concerts per year at Malmö Live and other venues in the Malmö Region. The orchestra also tours a few times each year.

To ensure events run smoothly, Martin and the technical team need complete control over their technical assets. Since early 2022, Martin and the team have relied on the Trail Equipment Management System to manage technical equipment and its usage for these events.

Main challenges before implementing Trail

”We were almost completely self-supplied here at Malmö Live and we didn’t have an inventory of all our technical equipment. We did not have an overview of what we owned, what was the equipment status, what was working, what was missing, when was the equipment purchased, and when it was time to replace it. And we didn´t have a proper way of booking equipment for different projects.” Martin describes the situation before implementing Trail.

”I had been looking for a system like Trail for quite some time. It got so far that I at one point started making one myself using a simple database manager, ODBC. I did give up though due to the Sisyphos side of the project. I was quite pleased when I came across the ad for Trail.”

Malmö Live is continually expanding its inventory and adding more data to Trail. Even during the implementation phase, they began booking equipment for events to easily see what was available and what was not.

Sense of control and other benefits

The biggest benefit Trail has brought to Malmö Live is a clear sense of control over their technical equipment. The comprehensive overview of equipment provides insight into available resources and identifies any gaps. As a result, they now have concrete knowledge of their equipment rather than relying on assumptions.

“The ability to see the life cycle of the equipment makes it easier for us to predict future expenses. Moreover, the co-workers can see who is using what and where, which also improves responsibility.” Martin continues.

Martin has also been impressed with the Trail team’s customer service: “The contact with the Trail team is pure pleasure!”

Best practices of equipment management in a concert hall

When asked about best practices he could share, Martin stated, “We haven’t been using Trail for very long. However, I would recommend encouraging staff to book equipment for all projects, even the smaller ones. It’s much better than just grabbing things straight off the shelf.”

Achieved benefits:

• Enhanced control over equipment

• Complete visibility of equipment status, maintenance requirements, investment needs, and purchase history

• Ability to leverage equipment data for budgeting and investment planning

• Increased sense of responsibility among employees

• Capability to plan equipment usage for upcoming events and book necessary equipment

Detailed overall picture of the equipment usage

“Trail is very easy and simple to use. We have been very satisfied with it" states Juha Hirvonen, Sound production unit, Riveria

Riveria is one of the largest vocational education and training providers in Finland. Each year, 17,000 students study at Riveria, which offers over 130 different degrees.

In the media and communications department, students use AV equipment owned by the institution daily for various projects. Managing equipment usage and reservations was very time-consuming and challenging without an adequate system.

The sound production unit was the first to adopt Trail at Riveria. Previously, the unit used paper forms to track equipment reservations, which were unreliable and frequently outdated. Much time was spent searching for equipment and reservation information.

AssetOps improves monitoring and saves time

With the AssetOps culture enabled by Trail, the sound production unit has significantly improved its equipment management. Thanks to Trail's reservation feature, students can book devices anytime and from anywhere via a web-based interface. As a result, the overall view of equipment reservations is continuously updated, making it easy to monitor equipment usage.

Trail also helps Riveria ensure that equipment is returned to its proper place after a student’s reservation ends. With booking history readily available, locating equipment has become faster. Since introducing Trail, no equipment has been lost, and the time spent searching for equipment has been significantly reduced.

Building on the positive experiences of the sound production unit, Trail's use at Riveria has expanded. Today, the Radio and TV, Photography, and Graphic Design units also manage their equipment with Trail.

Achieved benefits:

• Reduction of time spent searching for equipment

• Reduced equipment loss

• Easily available devices

• Improved tracking of equipment reservations and returns

Senate Properties

Senate Properties is the work environment partner of the Finnish government. Senate Properties is responsible for the maintenance and development of the premises of government organisations and creates work environments that support customers' operations.

Trail was introduced to Senate Properties in 2018 through a public tender. As part of the implementation, a security and administrative audit of the system was conducted to ensure Trail's suitability for use by the state administration.

"The goal was to gather all the life cycle information of office furniture and AV equipment across different locations," says Jenna Mustonen, Adviser, Maintenance in Workplace and Maintenance Services at Senate Properties.

Efficient inventory

Trail is currently used to manage tens of thousands of Senate Properties' furniture and AV equipment throughout Finland. Physical RFID tags are attached to the equipment for individual tracking. The tags have basic item information and a QR code, enabling fast and effortless defect reporting through Trail's mobile application.

"We decided to label the devices with Trail’s RFID smart chips so that repetitive inventories can be completed using remote reader devices. In this way, inventories can be completed in a fraction of the time compared to before", says Mustonen.

Trail's mobile application and RFID reader are used to identify remotely readable RFID tags. In practice, a mobile device is connected to the reader, where Trail's application registers all RFID tags scanned by the reader, and then updates the system with the latest information.

A powerful RFID reader allows tags to be read from a distance of up to 10 meters, making inventory execution very fast. As an example of efficiency, about 800 articles from the entire floor were inventoried in less than 10 minutes in one of the Helsinki offices.

Gathering equipment information

Gathering equipment information into Trail works smoothly for Senate Properties as equipment suppliers provide the information in a system-readable format.

"With Trail, we finally have a comprehensive view of the locations we manage and the furniture and equipment used by different customers - and it's easy. In the past, compiling and updating such information was practically impossible," says Mustonen.

User rights management

All systems used by the Senate Properties must operate seamlessly and reliably in terms of user rights management. With Trail's comprehensive access control possibilities, information on equipment in different parts of Finland is only available to relevant personnel.

Achieved benefits:

• Up-to-date view of all equipment

• Efficient and reliable inventory

• Efficient equipment data collection

• Effective user rights management